Impacto do Projeto Hora de Plantar sobre a sustentabilidade da produção de milho híbrido dos agricultores familiares no Cariri cearense

The main objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of “Projeto Hora de Plantar” (time to plant) on agricultural sustainability of family farms of hybrid maize in the Microrregion of Cariri. For this purpose, we constructed the Production Sustainability Index (ISP), incorporating economic, environmental, and technological aspects. We obtained the primary data through the application of 90 semi-structured questionnaires to the beneficiaries and 120 to non-beneficiaries of the program, totaling 210 questionnaires. We use the Propensity Score Matching technique with Entropy Balancing for the comparison between treated (beneficiaries) and control (non-beneficiaries). The results showed that the production sustainability index of beneficiaries is significantly higher than in non-beneficiaries. The economic and technological components of ISP of beneficiaries were significantly higher than those of non-beneficiaries of the project; however, the two groups of farmers presented non-statistically significant estimates for the environmental dimension. Also, it is recommended the extension of technical assistance and rural extension services to stimulate the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices